


you, me and the flash makes three

by sunkelles



Series: Iris West Dates the World [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barriscowest, Bi Barry Allen, Bi Cisco Ramon, Established Irisco, F/M, Implied sexy times, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Threesome - F/M/M, but no actual written sexy times, getting together fic, season one rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11269335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: When Barry Allen wakes up from his coma, he finds out that Iris is dating Cisco. He tries really hard to dislike the guy, but Cisco makes it really hard. He's a likable dude.Things get more complicated from there.





	you, me and the flash makes three

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. eddie does not show up in this fic, but just know that he's being eddie. he's annoying joe, being ridiculously heroic, and feeling like a failure and eventually stabbing himself in the chest to become a martyr. 
> 
> good old eddie
> 
> 2\. this fic only got off the ground because the fam and i were doing a flash rewatch and it got my juices flowing. i'm really glad that we did because i likely would have just kept pushing this back and back until i didn't care for the concept anymore if we didn't start that rewatch right when we did.  
> 3\. warnings for: canon temporary character death, use of the b word, and the gay white author occasionally trying to bring up race issues,

Barry wakes up.

 

It feels startling, like finally coming up for air after staying under water as long as possible. His memories are hazy.  He remembers lighting. Then he remembers chemicals bursting- an explosion. Then, he doesn’t remember anything at all.

 

Barry opens his eyes.

“Welcome back to the land of the living!” the guy says. The first thing Barry notices is his smile. It’s big and bright and sunny. It almost reminds him of Iris, especially with the long, black hair that falls around his face. The light around his head almost looks like a halo.

Barry’s too disoriented to say anything. Then another head peaks in beside the guy’s. It’s a girl with auburn hair. She’s not smiling.

“I need you to urinate into this,” she says, shoving a little plastic cup into his hands. The guy raises his eyebrows disapprovingly.

“Caitlin, that’s not a good conversation starter.”

“Well he needs to _,”_ she says, like that makes telling him to pee in a cup any less awkward. He still feels disoriented, but that doesn’t give him a good feeling. It makes him feel like he wants to get out of here. He pushes himself off the bed.

“Who are you people?” Barry demands. Then he catches a better glimpse of where he is, and this is very much not a hospital. It’s too wide open, too futuristic. There’s medical equipment, but not very much of it. Only enough for one patient: him. It’s freaky, like horror movie freaky.

“And where am I?”

“Oh gosh,” the guy says, “sorry! I’m Cisco, and this is Cait- Dr. Snow. We’re at Star Labs.”

“Star Labs?” Barry asks. He can’t- he can’t _really_ be in Star Labs. Star Labs is the coolest place in the universe. He was just there to watch the Particle Accelerator and he thought that was the most amazing thing that ever happened to him.

“The one and only,” Cisco says. The way that he says this doesn’t sound quite genuine. It’s a little self-deprecating actually. Speaking of that, this main room seems awful empty for one of the biggest and most influential working labs in the country.

“What happened?”

“Iris said that you guys went to watch the Particle Accelerator, right?”

“Yeah?” Barry’s about to ask how the guy knows Iris, but Cisco plows right on.

“The Particle Accelerator kind of exploded. Put you in that coma, actually,” he says. He sounds embarrassed by that, and a guilty too.

“Wait, how?”

“Well, you got struck by lighting. We think that the explosion caused the storm,” Dr. Snow says. He sees himself in the mirror in all of his shirtless glory. Which is apparently a lot more glory than he remembered.

“Lightning gave me abs?”

“It seems to have rewritten the structure of your DNA, actually. Your cells are regenerating exponentially.”

“Cool,” Barry says, “that’s great.” There are a lot of worse things that being struck by lightning and being in a coma for god knows how long could have done to him.

“Can I have a shirt?” Barry’s really enjoying this whole “abs” thing, but it’s kind of cold in here. Dr. Snow walks over to a whole pile of Star Labs sweatshirts.

“What size are you?”

“Large please.” Dr. Snow picks up a navy one and throws it his way. He catches it and then slides it back on. It feels so nice and cozy after however long without wearing one. How long was he topless anyway? He hasn’t asked how long his coma was. For all he knows it could have been years. He really hopes that it wasn’t years.

“How long was I out?”

“Nine months,” Dr. Snow says. Nine months is better than years, but it’s still longer than he’d hoped. That could have been the entire course of a pregnancy. That’s a whole lot of living he’ll never get back.

“Wow,” Barry says, “have you let anyone know I’m up?” He suddenly feels like he hasn’t seen Iris or Joe in _ages._ Well, considering he’s been out that long, he actually hasn’t.

“Don’t worry,” Cisco says, “I called Iris as soon as you got up.” Dr. Snow rolls her eyes.

“He was already on the phone with her,” Dr. Snow says. It sounds teasing, and Barry scrunches his nose up.

“You know Iris?” Barry asks. What all did he miss during those nine months?

“Yeah,” Cisco says with a big old grin, “we’re actually-”  
  
“Barry!” Iris shouts, bursting through the door. She runs over to him, and engulfs him in a hug. Iris isn’t a tall woman, but she’s full of love and hugs tightly. It sure _feels_ engulfing.

“I missed you,” she tells him.

“I missed being conscious,” Barry tells her. Iris breaks the hug, and hits his arm lightly.

“Guess I missed you too.” Iris grins.

“Of course you did. I’m your best friend.” Being called _best friend_ really shouldn’t feel like a blow to the chest, but it does. It always has. Joe comes through the door next.

“We were so worried,” Joe tells him. Then he goes in for a hug, and Barry hugs him tightly. He doesn’t remember the nine months he was out, but he can feel the fact that he was absent in his bones. He missed them both so much.

“No more getting hit by lightning, “ Joe says sternly.

“I make no promises,” says Barry, who will try not to get struck by lightning in the future. Joe rolls his eyes.

“Star Labs won’t feel obligated to save you if you do it again,” Joe says.

“We probably would,” Cisco says, “I’m kind of attached to him.”

“You don’t actually know him, you know,” Joe says.

“I know he likes Star Wars and Poker Face and that he’s Iris’s best friend. That’s enough to know he’s a cool dude.”

“No one’s ever called me cool before,” Barry says. It feels really good, actually, especially coming from this guy. He works at Star Labs, and he knows Iris. Barry thinks that he likes him already.

“So,” Barry says, “how _do_ you two know each other?”

“I’m gonna go,” Joe says, gesturing to the door.

“Dad,” Iris chides, “Barry just woke up.”

“Yeah, and I don’t wanna be here for this conversation,” he says. Iris rolls her eyes. Barry feels his nose scrunch up as Joe leaves.

“What conversation?”

“Proper introductions, apparently,” Iris says. That doesn’t alleviate any of Barry’s confusion.

“ Barry, this is Cisco, my boyfriend.”

“Wait, your what?”

Cisco grins, and Iris says, “Boyfriend, Barr. This is my boyfriend Cisco.” He had thought that Cisco seemed cool, but he thinks he has to reevaluate his opinion on the guy.

“How did that happen?” Iris grins at Cisco, that grin that’s always been reserved for Barry and Joe and it almost hurts, except Cisco grins right back at her and it’s as big and happy as Iris’s. Barry doesn’t know what to do with that.

“You wanna tell the story?” Iris asks. Cisco shrugs.

“I could but, he’s your best friend. I thought he’d rather hear it from you.”  

“But you tell it better,” Iris says. Cisco’s grin gets even _bigger._

“That _is_ true,” he says, and Iris swats his arm just like she swats at Barry.

“Together?” Cisco asks. Iris nods, then she starts,

“So it all started when you were in the coma-”

“I think he figured that one out,” Cisco says. Iris rolls her eyes.

“If you’re gonna be rude, I’ll tell the story without you,” Iris says.

“She wouldn’t leave your bedside,” Cisco continues, as if he wasn’t just threatened.

“Yes I did-”

“You went to the _bathroom_ ,” Cisco says, “that’s as far as you got from his bedside.” Iris looks like she’s about to argue, then she decides not to.

“Cisco’d wait up with me, “ Iris says, “he said he was watching your vitals, making sure you were alright, but eventually we were just hanging out. Then he dragged me off for coffee.”  

“I did not drag,” Cisco says, “it was a mutual coffee understanding. We both agreed.” Iris rolls her eyes, apparently choosing not to comment on the “mutual coffee understanding”.

“So we went for coffee,” Iris corrects, and soon they’re both telling the story, interjecting with different details.

 

 

It was a sunny Missouri winter day when Cisco and Iris finally decided that they could do something beside sitting by Barry Allen’s bedside.

“Where do you wanna go?” Iris asks.

“Well, I like Jitters best, but I know you work there and might want to like, never step foot in there if you don’t have to. We could go to the Starbucks down the corner if you’d like that.”

“Dude, I get an employee discount at Jitters,” she says, “we’re not going to Starbucks.” Cisco nods. She does have a point there. When they get there, they order their coffees together.

“Does her employee discount still apply if I’m paying?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Iris says, holding out a ten dollar bill, “because I’m paying.”

“Fine,” he says, “I’ll pay next time.” He realizes the moment that the words leave his mouth that they’re presumptuous.

“I’m sorry, I mean if.” Iris rolls her eyes.

“We’ve been hanging out for weeks, Cisco,” she says, “pretty sure I’ll still want to after we do in public.”

“Just didn’t want to assume, you know. Ass out of me ass out of you.”

“You can’t make an ass of me. No one can make an ass of me.” Cisco loves Iris’s bravado. She’s so confident, even though she’s still figuring some stuff out. It’s one of her most attractive features, and Iris West has no dearth of attractive features.

They sit down at a table by the window, and Cisco takes a long sip of his coffee. Then Iris takes a sip. Then Cisco takes another sip, and he realizes that he’s going to have to start the conversation. That’s not bad, really. He has a lot of things that he’d like to know about Iris West.

“So, do you know what you’re going to do after grad school?” Cisco doesn’t even know what degree Iris is working on to be honest. She doesn’t like to talk about it much.

“Nope,” Iris says, “one of the perks of having your plan A uprooted before you went to school in the first place.” She only sounds a little bitter about this. If Cisco hadn’t been able to go to school for engineering, he knows that he would have been as bitter as a bad cup of black coffee.

“What was plan A?”

“ I wanted to be a cop, but my dad shut that down.”

“But isn't your dad a cop?” Cisco doesn’t understand why Joe wouldn’t want Iris to follow in his footsteps. He thinks that Iris would make an amazing cop.

“Yeah,” Iris says, “that’s _why_ he didn’t want me doing it. He knows how dangerous it is.”

“You would have been a badass cop, you know.”

“I’m still a badass,” Iris points out. God, Cisco loves that confidence. He wishes that he take a bit of that for himself and like, store it in his back pocket for a rainy day. He’s going to need more of it than ever in a post Particle Accelerator explosion world.

“Yeah,” Cisco says, and he’s already a little in love with this woman, “you are.”

“I could be a preschool teacher and be a badass.”

“I think that might be the _most_ badass version of you,” Cisco says. He’s not sure if he’s joking or not. Preschool teachers are hardcore.

“Somewhere, cop me and preschool teacher me are having a drink together, talking about how hard their jobs are.”

“I’d pay to see that,” Cisco says, “Preschool teacher Iris is teaching cop Iris how to reign in five year olds, and cop Iris is teaching her how to use a gun.”

“Don’t be silly, they can both use a gun.”

“Wait,” Cisco says, “can this Iris use a gun too?”

“Of course,” Iris says, like the notion of her not being able to use a gun is ridiculous.

“Could you teach me?”

“Yeah, of course,” Iris says. She grabs her purse, and goes to stand up.

“Wait,” Cisco says, “do you mean right now?”

“Yeah,” Iris says, “of course. Unless you have something else to do?”

“Just sit by Barry’s bedside,” Cisco says. That’s the only thing either of them have done for a month.

“He’ll be fine for a few more hours,” Iris says, “I’ve gotta teach you how to use a gun.”

 

 

“So I took him to the shooting range and taught him how to use a gun,” Iris says. 

“And I Deadshotted the target on my first try,” Cisco says. Iris laughs.

“He couldn’t even _hit_ the target the first day,” she corrects.

“Well,” Cisco says, “ I wasn’t aiming for the target, so I actually had good aim. I reverse Deadshotted it.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Iris says.

“So you guys started dating after that?” Barry asks. He hopes that his voice doesn’t sound as stiff to them as it does to him.

“Yeah,” Iris says, “things just kinda fell into place after that. You know, Cisco’s the same breed of adorable nerd as you are, Barry.” Barry tries to keep the irritation off his face. You know who else is the same breed of adorable nerd as Barry? Barry. Barry’s an adorable nerd like Barry. If Iris is dating this guy because of that, she could just as easily date _him_. He tries not to let that thought show.

“That’s just great,” Barry says. There’s a little bile there, but less than he was expecting. Less than he’d really intended.

“Thanks Barr,” Iris says. It sounds so sweet and genuine, and Barry feels guilty for having any bile at all. He cares about Iris beyond being in love with her, and he should be able to be happy that she found a guy she likes.

 

 _Should_.

 

Barry isn’t a saint, though, and it’s unlikely that he’ll actually end up liking Cisco now that he knows that he’s Iris’s boyfriend.

 

 

 

Barry goes home. He goes home, and Cisco expects things to go back to the way they were before.

Well, obviously things aren’t going to be _exactly_ like they were before. Ronnie’s dead, leaving Caitlin more distant and closed off than ever before and Cisco down one of his two closest friends. His place of employment went from being one of the most respectable businesses in Central City to being about as respectable to the populace of Central City as Planned Parenthood seems to conservative Christians. But there has been one positive change. Now he has a girlfriend who he would argue in a court of law is the best girlfriend on the planet.

He _expects_ to see Barry again. Of course he expects to see Barry again. Barry is Iris’s best friend. There’s no way that Cisco was going to end up not seeing the guy if he wanted to keep seeing Iris.

He didn’t expect to see Barry outside of that, though. The guy’s nice, but it’s not like he’s trying to creep on coma patients to fill up the friend sized holes in his heart.

But then Barry’s powers manifest, and well, Cisco realizes that he’s going to be seeing the guy _a lot_ more than he’d originally planned.

He, Caitlin and Dr. Wells help Barry train, and Cisco carefully skirts around the issue of “Barry acting strangely” with Iris. The superspeed is _Barry’s_ deal, and Cisco fully believes that it’s his secret to tell. He wouldn’t appreciate it if Barry went around telling Iris about his secret stash of candy at Star Labs. The secret stash of candy that doesn’t exist, of course, because he promised his girlfriend that he was cutting back. He does think that Barry should tell her eventually, but well, he should tell her about that stash of candy eventually too. He’s just gotta work up the strength, and he knows Barry does too.

So all in all, Cisco likes the guy. He likes the guy, but that doesn't mean that he trusts him with godlike powers. He trusted Dr. Wells with the particle accelerator, and while he still trusts Dr. Wells, he doesn't trust particle accelerators or the powers they create one bit.

He doesn't want to _not_ trust Barry. The guy’s Iris’s best friend, and quickly becoming one of Cisco’s own. Trusting a person isn’t necessarily the same thing as trusting them with superpowers, though. He _does_ need backup plans. He just hopes that he’ll never have to use this one. So he builds a cold gun, and he stores it away for a day that he hopes will never come when he might have to use it.

 

 

 

Before Cisco, Barry hated all of Iris’s boyfriends. Iris has dated some asswipes, and Iris has dated some perfectly nice guys that Barry hated solely because they were dating Iris.

Barry has a _talent_ for hating her boyfriends. He expects that he’ll be able to hate Cisco too. Sure the guy’s kind of nice, and kind of funny (and seems so good for her) but he’s dating Iris and Barry isn't. That’s reason enough reason for Barry to hate a saint.

Barry tries to dislike him, but god, Cisco’s just so _likable_. Everything he does is likable. He cracks jokes that line up perfectly with Barry’s sense of humor. He’s nice too, and fun to be around, and he makes Barry believe that he’s capable of more than he ever thought was possible. Hell, soon they’ve agreed to have a Star Wars marathon together. Barry hasn’t been able to get someone to marathon Star Wars with him since his mother introduced it to him when he was ten.

Iris tried once, but she fell asleep about halfway up through _A New Hope_ and didn’t wake up until Luke blew up the Death Star. Barry realized that she was a lost cause then.

The point is that Cisco, is, well, he’s likable to the point it’s almost annoying. There is literally nothing to dislike about the guy other than the fact that he’s dating Iris. The longer that he knows him, the less Barry can dislike him, even on those grounds. Which are strong grounds for Barry to dislike something. They’re basically the “I have the high ground, Anakin” of grounds for Barry to hate someone.

But apparently Cisco’s as persistent as Anakin was. Barry has the high ground, and there’s lava underneath, and all of the factors are there for him to drown in Barry’s dislike. But Cisco rose out of the lava like Vader, but instead of being bent on revenge and helping Palpatine he just wants to be pals-patine.

Barry cringes as he thinks that. Sometimes he wishes that his brain could be normal for like, five seconds. Just long enough to fool someone into thinking that he isn’t an “adorable nerd” like Iris always says.

He thinks that Cisco’s already on his way to being Barry’s friend, maybe his best friend. And if Barry knows one thing about his best friends (well friend, singular) it’s that he tends to fall in love with them.

He thinks that he needs to slow down. Then Barry gets _confirmation_ that he needs to slow down. One of the most notorious thieves in the city gets a cold gun, and shoots down an innocent civilian.

 

It turns out that Cisco built it.

“You did? Why?” Cisco gives him some explanation about speed and cold being opposites, and Barry only really gets one thing from the whole explanation: dread. Then he finds out the dread is totally valid.

“I built it to stop you,” Cisco says. Then he stutters out a rationalization, and all Barry hears is: I didn’t trust you, so I built something to kill you. All Barry knows is that he’s spent the last few months trusting this man and he hasn’t gained any of his trust in return.

Cisco even implies that he might have ended up being a _psycho._

“But I didn’t!” Barry shouts. He’s not a psycho. He’s just their friend. He’s just the guy who they’ve helped save people. Caitlin tries to calm him down with explanations about Star Labs. Barry gets that, he does, and he says as much. What he doesn’t understand is why Cisco didn’t tell him later.

“I thought we were friends?” Barry demands. It hurts like hell.

“We are, Barry,” Cisco says, like this is the sort of thing friends do to each other. Like they build guns to kill each other and then just- just _keep_ that from each other. This is the guy that’s dating Iris. What is he keeping from her? How is he putting _her_ in danger?

“If you had just _told_ me about this, then I could have been prepared! But instead someone died tonight.”

“And I have to live with that,” Cisco says, like this is somehow just his burden, like Barry wasn’t the one that watched that man die- that wasn’t fast enough to save him.

“No, Cisco, we _all_ do.”

 

Felicity helps him calm down, but he’s still so _mad_. He doesn’t think that’s going to go away with a little pep talk from his friend from Starling City. He turns his earpiece off as he buzzes into danger, and he hopes for the best. If nothing else, he won’t have to listen to Cisco’s perky voice pretending that everything _alright._

 

 

 

Cisco still feels high on adrenaline and guilt by the time they get to Star Labs. He has the most uncomfortable moment he’s _ever_ had with Dr. Wells, and he catches Barry before he leaves.

“Barry,” Cisco says, “I’m really sorry.”

“Dude,” Barry says, and it seems like his anger has melted away, “you threatened a supervillain with a vacuum cleaner for me. I think we’re even.”

“You seemed really mad before,” Cisco says, “enraged sort of mad.”

“I was.” Barry doesn’t offer any explanation beyond that.

“Was there anything else?” Cisco asks. He needs to know where they stand. If there’s any residual anger coloring their relationship, he wants to know about it.

“I was worried about Iris, okay?”

“What?” Cisco asks. He definitely didn’t expect Iris to be a factor in this. He knows that Iris is one of their biggest commonalities. Of course he does, but she hasn’t really factored into _their_ relationship. It’s just been them bonding over Barry becoming the Flash, and _science,_ and nerd culture, and all of those things that Iris hasn’t really been a part of. Cisco and Barry’s relationship has been almost independent of their relationships with Iris.

“You’re her boyfriend now, and, well. I was worried.”

“About what?”

“I was worried that if you were keeping something like that from me, you might be putting her in danger.”

“How would I be doing that?”

“Look, I don’t know,” Barry says, “it was kind of stupid, but that’s where my mind went.”

“You know that I’d never let anything bad happen to her, right?” Cisco thinks that Iris is totally capable of defending herself, which is apparently a view that he’s _alone_ in, but if she needed him to, he’d burst into a whole _lair_ of supervillains with only a vacuum cleaner. He would never do anything to purposely put her in danger.

“Good,” Barry says, and then he grins that big old goofy grin. It almost seems _too_ happy for the situation.

“Was this a shovel talk?” Barry looks a little flustered.

“No,” he says, “I don’t think I’m really the person who should give that.” Then Barry looks like he’s considering something.

“Has Joe given you one?”

“Nah. Detective West doesn’t have to give a shovel talk,” Cisco says, “his entire _existence_ is a shovel talk.” Cisco is _always_ aware that he’s dating a woman who’s dad is a cop that cares more about her than anything else in the world. Barry laughs.

“Honestly, yeah. He scared off my first boyfriend with just a look.” Cisco tries to ignore the wave of excitement he feels upon hearing Barry say the word _boyfriend._

“Wait. Boyfriend?” Then Barry gets The LookTM that people get when they realize that they’ve come out to someone that they probably shouldn’t have. It’s a terrified look, and Cisco feels awful for putting it there. He knows all too well what it feels like.

“No, no, no,” Cisco says, putting a hand on Barry’s shoulder, “I’m not homophobic, promise. I’m just bi. I was excited.” Then Barry’s look turns back into a relieved looking grin.

“I am too,” he says, “well, excited. And bi. Bi and excited.” Cisco laughs.

“Yeah, me too dude.” It’s just so _nice_ to know that he’s not the only bi guy on the team now. He loves Caitlin to death, but she’s still a straight (white) woman and she doesn’t always get it. Now he gets to bitch about racism to Iris and bitch about homophobia to Barry.

He’s just excited because Barry’s a fellow bi that he can bitch to. He’s definitely not excited that Barry swings his way because he’s an attractive guy and Cisco might be nursing a bit of a crush. Yeah, he likes the guy, but he _loves_ his girlfriend. He’s not going to risk that for anything.

 

 

 

Cisco’s apartment isn’t the nicest place. It’s kind of small, and it’s across town from Iris’s place, and his neighbors are _loud_.  Iris still lives at home, though, so she doesn’t have any room to complain. At least her dad won’t walk in on them if they’re at Cisco’s place. He won’t even be there to comment on her blogging.

“So,” Iris says, looking up from her laptop, “what do you want to do tonight?” Iris would like to go out, but she’s not _opposed_ to staying in. Especially if he makes a convincing argument.

“Um,” Cisco says, “something that lets me go to bed early, probably.”

“You want to go to bed early?” Iris asks. It’s a Saturday night. They could be going out to a karaoke bar. Iris isn’t any good at it, but Cisco has the voice of an angel and it’s satisfying watching people’s jealous looks when they realize that he’s taken after he gets done singing. There’s a ton of other options. Central City isn’t lacking in nightlife.

“I’m meeting the rest of the gang at Star Labs tomorrow morning,” Cisco says.

“What are you guys doing anyway?” Iris asks. She doesn’t have much of a clue what goes on at the lab besides taking care of Barry and like, engineering.

“Just rebuilding the good name,” Cisco says. He smiles like it’s some sort of inside joke, and Iris realizes that she doesn’t really need to be in on it. If the Star Labs Team is doing something good for the city to try to rebuild their reputation, Iris thinks that’s great. And if Cisco wants to be cryptic about it, she supposes that’s okay. Cisco’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to her, to be honest.

Barry has never been alright with any of her boyfriends before, and it seems like he and Cisco are actually _friends._ It’s kind of weird. Iris couldn’t imagine being friends with _any_ of Barry’s girlfriends or boyfriends. She’ll definitely take it for the blessing that it is though. She can’t bear the thought of them not getting along.

“What are _you_ doing,” he says. Iris hasn’t mentioned it to him yet. She didn’t really want to deal with another negative opinion about it.

“I’m working on a story for my blog,” she says, and it sounds stupid.

“Cool,” Cisco says, “what kind of blog?” That’s a surprise. She never expected him to be _supportive_ of it.

“It’s a blog about the Flash, actually,” Iris says, “and I write about other strange things that are happening in Central City too.” She’s expecting him to say something dismissive. That’s the response that she’s learned to expect about her blog.

“That’s so cool, babe,” he says, “why haven’t you mentioned it before?”

“My dad and Barry both think it’s stupid,” Iris says.

“Well they’re both stupid,” Cisco says, “like come, on you’re doing something that you care about. You told me you were thinking about pursuing journalism now, right?”

“Yes?” Iris says skeptically. She’s not sure how her amateur blog really relates to her dreams of a possible career in journalism.

“Then this is like, peak experience, right?” Iris laughs at that.

“Well, _peak_ experience would be working for CCPN or something. Trust me, my blog’s not gonna make that happen.” Cisco shrugs.

“Maybe,” he says, “if there’s a will there’s a way, you know.”

“That’s white people shit and you know it.” He laughs, and the corners of his eyes crinkle.

“You got me there.”

“You should still write about it. If it makes you happy, then it’s worth doing right?”

“They think it’s dangerous.”

“It probably is, but you can handle it. You’re the most badass person I know, babe, seriously. I ain’t worried.”

No one’s ever told her that she should keep doing something that makes her happy if it might be dangerous. Iris West listened to her dad tell her how dangerous being a cop was. She listened to both him and Barry tell her how dangerous this blog was. For once, it’s nice to hear someone say that she can handle it. It’s so nice to have someone _believe_ in her like that, the way that she always believes in the people around her.

“Thanks babe,” she says. She means it.

 

 

 

Cisco thought that he’d escaped The Wrath of Barry Allen after Barry forgave him for the Captain Cold Incident. Apparently he did not. Barry pulls up Iris’s blog on one of the computers, and looks angry and betrayed as he points at it, making Cisco look.

“You told her to write this?”

“Well,” Cisco says, “I wouldn’t say I “told” her to. She was already doing it, I just told her that I supported her.”

“And why would you do that?” Barry asks. He sounds like he’s barely holding back his anger. Cisco should tread lightly. He does not do that.

“I thought it would be funny,” Cisco says. Barry sends him a look like he’s going to choke him.

“Oh come on,” Cisco says, “it _is_ funny. Your best friend writing an anonymous blog about people spotting you, like you’re some kind of cryptid.”

“She shouldn’t be doing that.”

“Yeah,” Cisco says, “she should already know.” It might not be Cisco’s secret to tell, but he still thinks that Barry should tell her. All of their lives get more complicated every day that Iris doesn’t know about the Flash shit.

“This is gonna put her in danger.”

“Iris can handle herself, you know that better than I do.” Cisco doesn’t know how Barry and Joe could have known Iris longer than him and not believe that she’s capable of handling herself. Joe taught her how to fight, how to use a gun. How could he think that she can’t handle knowing that her best friend runs really fast and sometimes fights superpowered bad guys? It’s not like her life was ever normal.

“Please,” Barry says, “tell her to stop this. She didn’t listen to Joe or I, but she might listen to you.” It sounds like it pains him to admit this.

“Look, keeping Iris in the dark about this is _your_ job. I’m not doing it for you guys.” Cisco might have told Barry that he wasn’t giving up his secret, but he’s not gonna go out of his way to keep it either. He hates lying to Iris like this.

“Are you gonna tell her?” Barry asks nervously. He’s obviously not ready to have this conversation yet. Cisco sighs.

“No, it’s your secret to tell. Barry. But you’re running out of time. The longer you wait to tell her, the more pissed off she’ll be at the both of us.” Cisco realizes that when they do tell her, she’ll go as nuclear as Plastique did. It’s going to be really ugly, but they’re going to deserve it, all three of them. Detective West for asking them to keep this secret, and the rest of them for listening.

 

 

 

Iris _does_ get a job at CCPN because of her blog. She’s not really sure how it happens, but it turns out that she actually is good at this journalism thing. She appreciates the fact that her boyfriend, at least, has supported her throughout it. Through every story, every close call, he’s been there for her.

She hopes that extends to stories that hit a little closer to home. Mason Bridge showed her all the evidence against Dr. Harrison Wells, and it’s damning. She wants to look further into the man to find out the real story at Star Labs. She’s hoping that she can get some help from her boyfriend.

She invites him to Jitters for lunch, and it’s mainly just to see him. Her ulterior motives don’t even come up until twenty minutes into the conversation.

“Okay,” Cisco says, “but really, we don’t do lunch dates. What’s this about?”

“Um, well,” Iris says, “I’ve been working on a story. I was kind of hoping for some help.” Iris takes another swig of coffee. She knows she’ll need some fortitude to bring up Dr. Wells being anything less than amazing to Cisco. He idolizes his boss. This could be a problem.

“Yeah, of course,” Cisco says, “anything for an intrepid reporter.” Iris laughs, and Cisco grins at her. It makes her feel a little guilt that what she’s about to ask will wipe that grin right off of his face.

“I wanted to ask you a few questions about Dr. Wells,” Iris says. Cisco looks skeptical.

“What kind of questions?” Iris doesn’t really know how to gently ease him into this conversation. She gives it her best shot,

“I know how close you two are, but do you think there might be something you don’t know about him?”

“Like what? Are we talking “favorite flavor of ice cream” or “literal skeletons in his closet”, because those are two _totally_ different things.”

“Closer to the second,” Iris says. Cisco laughs, like the very _idea_ of that is ridiculous. She has a whole folder of evidence here to show him, but she realizes now that he won’t even look at it. He’ll be insulted if she even brings it up.

“Babe, I would know if something like that were going on. There aren’t any skeletons in Dr. Wells’s closet.”

“Alright,” Iris says, “I believe you.” She _believes_ that Cisco doesn’t know about any of the skeletons in Wells’s closet, and that pushing farther would be counterproductive.

“Really?” Cisco asks skeptically.

“Of course,” Iris says, taking his hand over the table, “I do trust you, you know.” She _trusts_ that if he knew about the skeletons in Dr. Wells’s closet that he wouldn’t defend him this much. Cisco looks a little taken back by this, like it’s somehow new information. She stands up, and she sends him a grin.

“I gotta get to work, and I can’t just come in whenever. I’m not best friends with my boss.” Somehow she manages to say the words without sounding bitter. Cisco sticks his tongue out at her. She manages a grin. 

“Put that back in your mouth, or I’m not kissing you,” she threatens. He pulls it back in immediately, and she giggles as she kisses him goodbye. She starts to leave, then turns back around.

“Text me?” she asks.

“Of course.”

“Thanks, babe.” Then she leaves Jitters without saying another word.

That conversation went more or less how she expected it to. She didn’t expect Cisco to know anything about his boss’s clandestine dealings, but she thought that she needed to ask. She believes that Cisco doesn’t know about whatever’s going on. She does not, however, believe that there isn’t anything going on. There is way too much evidence to believe that.

She needed to know whether or not Cisco’d help, and he seems entirely convinced that Wells is a good guy. She doesn’t know if she can sway him until she has undeniable evidence.

She supposes that it’s time to start digging.

 

 

 

Wells is the Reverse Flash. Cisco can see that clear as day as he watches the hologram in front of him, listens to it say the exact same thing that “Reverse Flash” had said that night that they “almost caught” him.

Iris had been right. There _were_ skeletons in Dr. Wells’s closet, likely a lot of them. At the very least, he’s got Nora Allen stuffed in there somewhere. Cisco hears footsteps at the door, and realizes that Wells will soon have _him_ stuffed in there too.  

Cisco takes his finger off the button, and knows that his phone is calling Iris’s. He doesn’t know how that will help him, not really, but at least she’ll know how he died. That’s something.

If he can’t ever see her face again, hear her voice, he wants her to hear this. He wants someone to know what’s happened to him, and he trusts Iris to get to the bottom of it. He won’t have a life to trust her with anymore, but he can damn well trust her with his legacy.

 

 

 

Iris hears her phone ringing. She does _not_ need this right now. Not when the city is going to hell. Not when Mardon has her father. She and Barry are on the way to bargain with him, and she’s never been so scared in her life. She doesn’t need this right now.

But it’s Cisco, and she loves him, so she picks up the phone anyways.

“What is it, babe?” She knows that she sounds irritated, but she’s stressed and scared. She has a right to sound irritated. Cisco doesn’t answer.

“Cisco,” she demands. Then she finally hears his voice. What he says isn’t a response to her, and it’s faint. It sounds like he isn’t holding his phone up to his face for some reason.

“You were there that night,” Cisco says, “15 years ago, in Barry’s house. You killed Nora Allen.”

“Oh my god,” Iris says.

“It was never my intention to kill Nora Allen,” says Wells’s voice. It’s as good as a confession.

“Iris, what is it? What’s wrong with Cisco?” Barry asks.

“He’s with the guy that killed your mother,” Iris says.

“What?” he asks. He looks totally confused, like the words didn’t even process. Of course they didn’t. It seems too ridiculous, too _dramatic_ to believe. It’s like something out of _Daredevil_ , that gritty superhero show that she and Cisco like to watch sometimes.

“He sounds like Wells,” Iris adds.

“What?!?” Barry demands.

“I was there to kill Barry.” This shouldn’t shock her, but it _does._ She clutches her phone tighter, and grabs Barry’s hand. She needs to know that he’s solid, that he’s there. That at the moment, this monster’s only near _one_ of the most important men in her life. With her father in Mardon’s hands and Cisco in Wells’s, she needs to know that at least one of the men she cares about is safe with her, and not being threatened by a supervillain.

“Iris, what is it?” Iris doesn’t respond, doesn’t think that she can.

“Why? You’ve his friend! You’ve been teaching him how to-”

“Go faster, I know. A means to an end. And I’ll tell you why.” Go faster? What does that even mean? They aren’t training for a track team. Barry moves into her line of sight, and holds her face in his hands gently. He’s as gentle with her as he was when she found out that Mardon had her dad.

“Iris, I can save him,” Barry says, “I just- does it sound like they’re at Star Labs?” Iris feels anger bubble up inside of her. What does he think he can do?

“Shut up,” Iris hisses, clutching her phone tighter. They’re halfway across the city from Star Labs. They can’t do anything. The only person who could possibly help is the Flash.

“I could save him,” Barry says, firmer, “I could save him for you.” Barry is blocking out Wells’s voice, and Iris doesn’t hear any of it.

“Shut up,” Iris hisses again. Barry can’t help her. The only thing she can do is listen. She needs to know what’s going on at the other end of the line. She has to hear Cisco speak again, know that he’s still okay. Know that he’s still _alive_.

“And no one is going to prevent that from happening,” Wells says, determination thick in his voice.

“I could help you,” Cisco says, and she’s never heard him sound so small and fragile in his life. He sounds so scared, and all she wants in the world is to run as fast as the Flash and go find him. She needs to stand between him and this monster who masqueraded as his mentor.

Cisco’s told her all about Dr. Wells, all about how he views him more as a father than his own. She thought that Dr. Wells wasn’t what he seemed, but she never suspected _this._ She’s never hated anyone more in her life.

“You’re smart, Cisco, but you’re not that smart.” When he says it, he somehow manages to make it sound both kind and condescending. It sounds so final, and Iris feels her breath hitch.

“Do you know how hard it was keeping this from you, especially from you? Because the truth is, I’ve grown quite fond of you. And in many ways, you’ve shown me what it’s like to have a son.”

“You son of a bitch,” she hisses into the phone. She knows that no one will hear her, but it makes her feel better to say.

“Forgive me, but to me, you’ve been dead for centuries.” She hears a thud, a large one, and then nothing. Fifteen long seconds of nothing. She knows what it means, no matter how much she wants to deny it.

“Iris, what’s he saying? What’s going on?” Barry looks terrified, and she just holds out her hand to silence him. She doesn’t expect to hear anything more from the phone. Then she does.

“Miss West?” Wells’s voice asks. Iris’s breath hitches. Apparently, that’s enough for him to decide that it’s her.

“Of course he called you,” Wells says, legitimate affection in his voice, “he was always so clever.” If he was so clever, why did you kill him? If he was like a son to you, _why did you kill him!_

“Suppose I’ll just have to kill you now too.” He says it pleasantly, nonchalantly, like the concept of killing her is nothing. But this is the man who called Cisco son seconds before killing him, apparently killing _is_ nothing to him,

“Fuck you,” she growls into the phone. This man just killed her boyfriend. Cisco is _dead_ because of him, and he had the audacity to call him _son._

“Ah, Miss West,” he says, “is that the best retort you have? I always heard you were clever too.” The line goes dead. She feels a sob escape her throat, and her eyes are wet with tears.

“Iris-” Barry says, and Iris doesn’t even think as she flings herself on him.

“He’s dead,” she says. Her arms are around him, and his body is warm and firm and _there_ and Cisco will never be there again.

He’s dead, and she’s never going to hug him again. Never kiss him again, never hear him laugh, or see him smile. Never tease him about his nerd shirts, or run her hands through his hair. She never actually got around to braiding it, though she’d planned to. She’d told him she was going to give him pigtails someday. She feels another sob escape her throat.

She hears the thunder crackle, and it sounds like the night the Particle Accelerator exploded. It sounds like the gates of hell have opened.

They might have, actually. Cisco’s dead, her dad might be too, and a man-made hellstorm is brewing right above her. It sure sounds like all hell has broken loose.

“You’re not leaving,” Iris says, gripping Barry’s arm like a lifeline.

“You can’t leave too,” she says. She can’t face Mardon alone, and that thing that killed Cisco is after Barry too. The idea of letting Barry out of her sight right now makes her physically ill.

“Iris, I have to go, I just- I _have_ to,” he sounds desperate to get her to understand, but it doesn’t matter to her. She grips him harder, digging her fingers into his arm to remind herself that he’s here, that at least she hasn’t lost everything yet.

“I won’t lose you both tonight,” she says, tears streaming down her face. She _refuses_ to. Barry turns his head, and looks at the tsunami brewing. There’s a determined set to his jaw, and he breaks free of her grip on his arm. Then he takes her hand.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save him, and I’m sorry that I let this happen.” Iris shakes her head. Barry didn’t let this happen. He’s just a CSI, just a normal guy that she happens to love. Nothing he could have done would have stopped this.

“It’s not your fault,” Iris promises him. Barry shakes his head ruefully, like he still thinks that it is. He squeezes her hand again, and then lets go. Barry backs up, and then he starts to spin, faster than anyone can move.

Anyone but the Flash.

Lightning crackles around him, and a second later he’s standing there in the Flash costume, looking just like the man that Iris has been meeting and flirting with for weeks. Like the man who can run so fast that he could have saved Cisco, if she’d only listened to him-

If she’d only _known_.

“This isn’t how I wanted to tell you," he tells her, voice dripping regret. Then he runs towards the tsunami- the fucking _tsunami in Missouri._ Nothing is impossible anymore. Barry’s the Flash. The world is coming to an end, and Cisco’s already dead. She doesn’t know if she blames Barry for the last part, or if she blames herself.

 

 

 

Barry runs. Barry runs towards the tsunami and the swirling, stormy sky. He runs towards the danger because he doesn’t have any other choice. Then, Barry dials Caitlin on his headpiece and hopes that she knows what to do.

“Caitlin, what do I do?”

“Dr. Wells he-”

“What do I _do,”_ Barry demands. He knows what Dr. Wells did. He can’t stop thinking about it, hearing bits and pieces of what happened from Iris, knowing that on the side of the line Cisco was dying and he could have saved him. He could have. He _should have_

“You need to run at your top speed across the coastline. It might disrupt the tsunami,” Caitlin says, her voice completely shattered, “Barry, I don’t know if it will be enough.” Barry knows that it won’t be enough. No matter how fast he runs, Cisco will still be dead.

“I’m sorry Caitlin,” Barry tells her, Then he starts running. He runs as fast as he can. He runs away from Cisco’s death, from the burning city, from Joe and Iris on the brink of death as well.

He runs like if he runs fast enough, maybe he can undo what’s been done. He runs until his lungs feel like they might give out, until he can’t run anymore. Then, he stops, gasping for air, in the middle of the city.

He feels a sense of deja vu. He feels like he’s been here before, like he’s lived this exact moment. He hears Cisco’s voice call his name, and he feels a tiny glimmer of hope.

“Cisco!”

“Yeah, man,” Cisco says, and Barry feels relief rush over him like a tsunami, “I’m still on the comm, haven’t gone anywhere. And neither have you. At least not where you were supposed to.” Cisco sounds vaguely annoyed, but Barry doesn’t even care. He’s just so happy to hear his voice. Barry has never heard anything sweeter in his life than the sound of Cisco being alive.

“Where was I heading?” Barry asks. His voice cracks significantly less than he expected it to.  

“You were headed to the morgue, remember?” He went to the morgue this morning. That’s where he found the hail-bruised corpse and started this entire disastrous day. Barry Allen has traveled back in time.

He goes to the morgue, and he relives the visit from yesterday on fast forward. Then he runs directly to Mardon’s hideout and shoves him in a cell downstairs. He isn’t risking anything going wrong during this do over.

“Dude,” Cisco says, “how did you find him?” Instead of answering, Barry zips over and engulfs him in a hug.

He’d felt like the world had ended when Iris told him Cisco died. The tsunami hadn't hit yet, and Joe might have still been alive, but it already felt like all hope was lost. Barry doesn’t want to live in a world without Cisco in it.

Barry hugs him, and he’s warm and present and _there._ He’s so not dead that it’s like it never even happened, like all of that was a just a fucked up prank. He feels like Iris is going to burst in with a handful of confetti and tell him that he just got punked.

“Didn’t think you missed me that much,” Cisco quips.

“I’m just glad that you’re okay,” Barry says, his voice coming out as an emotional croak. He breaks the hug then, afraid that if he hugs him much longer it’ll get awkward.

“Uh yeah, sure,” Cisco says, “was I in danger of something? There something I didn’t know about?”

“No, of course not. I just like seeing your face.”

“Like seeing yours too, buddy,” Cisco says, patting him on the shoulder. Dr. Wells looks suspiciously at him. Barry wonders how he’s going to keep Wells from figuring out that Barry knows what he is. He knows that he has to, though. All of their lives depend on it.  He and Cisco walk out of the cortex and into the hallway, and he almost heaves a sigh of relief when he can’t feel Wells’s prying eyes on him anymore.

“You wanna go out tonight?” Barry asks. He just got Cisco back. He kind of wants to keep listening to him talk, keep looking at him. He just likes having reminders that the other man’s a live.

“Uh yeah, sure,” Cisco says, “I don’t have plans tonight.”

“Good,” Barry says, and he grins like a loon.

The end of the day comes quickly, and then so does the night. Cisco suggests going to his favorite karaoke bar. Barry's a little less enthusiastic about the idea, but Cisco gets him to go anyway. It's hard to say no to a guy you just got back from the dead. 

“Oh come on, man,” Cisco says, nodding his head towards the stage, “go sing.” The girl that's up there right now is nearly falling down drunk and has hit maybe three or four notes in all of  _Girls Just Want to Have Fun_ by Cyndi Lauper. 

“I’d rather not,” Barry says. Cisco elbows him.

“Oh come on, Iris says you have the voice of an _angel_.”

“She says that about you too,” Barry reminds him.

“Well _I_ do,” Cisco says, “I dunno about you. Still haven’t heard you sing.” Barry chuckles.

“The last time I did karaoke it didn’t go well. Caitlin got plastered, and I got a date with Linda.” Yeah, the thing with Linda Park did  _not_ go well. She's a nice enough person, but there's just no spark there. It's not like hanging with Iris, or even Cisco. He tries not to think about that last part too much. 

“Oh come on, dating Linda couldn’t have been _that_ bad.” Barry makes an eh sound and makes the “so so” gesture with his hand. Cisco rolls his eyes.

"Come on, go sing." 

"But what if I get another unwanted date?" Barry asks. He knows that he's just making excuses at this point, but still. He doesn't really want to do this. 

“Dude, I’ll beat the girls off you with a stick if I have to,” Cisco promises. Barry sighs.

“You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”

“Nope,” Cisco says, popping the p.

“Alright, fine,” Barry says, holding his hands out in surrender. He walks through the crowd towards the karaoke machine, and he hears some drunk cheering from the audience. This is really happening. 

He holds his breath as he considers his options. He could do something simple and crowd pleasing, but Barry has never been one for doing things that are simple and easy when he wants to impress someone. He searches for Queen’s _Don’t Stop Me Now_ , and smiles as he sees that they have it.

Barry presses the button, picks up the microphone and starts singing. He hears appreciative cheering the moment that he opens his mouth.

Not every note comes out perfect (he’s not actually Freddy Mercury, after all) but he’s enough of a step up from the drunk girls that sang before him that the audience is eating out of his hand. He tries to just have a good time with it, and not worry too much about how his performance goes. If his eyes settle on Cisco when he sings “I wanna make a supersonic man out of you” well, he tries not to read too much into that.

When Barry comes down, he feels like a rock star because the audience won't stop cheering. He feels like even more of one when Cisco smiles at him like he’s just broke the sound barrier again.

“Dude,” Cisco says, “that was awesome. And Iris thought that _I_ was good.”

“Who is this?” Barry asks. The high of a good performance and Cisco smiling like that has worn off. Now all he sees is this blonde woman sitting way too close to Cisco and grinning like she knows something Barry doesn’t. He feels something yucky settling in the pit of his stomach, and he realizes that it’s jealousy.

“Oh this is Lisa,” Cisco says, “she’s an engineer too. We've just been talking.”

“Oh yes,” Lisa says, “we’ve had _lots_ to talk about.”

“He has a girlfriend,” Barry snaps. He doesn’t want to watch someone who isn’t Iris flirt with Cisco.

“Oh,” the girl says, looking highly disappointed. Cisco looks confused and a little irritated. 

“Hey,” Cisco says, “can’t a guy have a friendly conversation?”

“Cisco, you flirt with everything that walks.” It comes out a little bitter than he’d intended it to, but it’s true. Barry’s not sure that Cisco notices, but flirting is his default state.

“You think I flirt with you?” Cisco asks, raising an eyebrow. Barry blushes.

“I, well- it doesn’t- well.”

“It’s cool, Barr,” Cisco says, grinning that stupid attractive grin, “don’t have a hernia.”

“I’m not having a hernia,” he says, “I just happen to be best friends with your girlfriend. I’m under contract to make sure that you stay faithful.” That’s the only reason that this is bugging him, of course. There are no underlying motives whatsoever.

“We’ll just have a civil conversation about engineering, right Lisa?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Lisa says, in all her fake blonde glory. Barry can’t tell if that’s a bad dye job or a wig, but it’s definitely not her real color. Now he realizes that he's just being petty. 

Barry sighs. He doesn’t really want to keep Cisco from having a conversation with this girl if it’s really just shop talk, even if it does make him kind of jealous.

“Alright,” Barry says, accepting that he’s lost control of the night, “I’ll leave you to it then. “

“You don’t have to go, Barry,” Cisco says, sounding confused by the offer. Lisa, however, is glaring at him in a way that makes it clear he’s not welcome.

“I really should,” Barry lies, “I haven’t been sleeping well anyways. Shouldn’t really stay out any later.”

“Are you sure?” Cisco asks. He sounds disappointed by the prospect of Barry leaving. Barry, however, can’t deal with this any longer.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he says half-heartedly, “You guys have a good time.”

“Alright,” Cisco says cautiously, “bye Barr.”

“Bye guys,” Barry says, and he heads out, feeling jealous and stupid and completely out of place.

 

 

  
Cisco gets himself kidnapped. He knows Iris would tell him that’s victim blaming, but yeah, it’s totally his fault that he gets kidnapped. If he hadn’t have wanted to hang out with Lisa after Barry told him she was bad news, then he wouldn’t have agreed to walk her to her car because it was dark out and she’s a woman and scary shit happens out after dark if you’re a woman, okay? And then she wouldn’t have knocked him over the back of the head when he got there and he wouldn’t have woken up in the custody of the Rogues: Cold, Heatwave, and Lisa, who’s apparently Cold’s sister. Isn’t that just his luck?  

If he’d just stopped talking to her when Barry got his panties in a twist, he wouldn’t have ended up building _three_ deadly weapons, telling the Snarts Barry’s ID, or crying into Barry's shoulder. Yeah, Cisco would really prefer if none of those things ever happened.

But when he’s off his game a few days after the kidnapping, it’s not about that anymore. It’s about something else. Barry hasn’t really gotten the memo yet.

“Cisco,” he says, “it was _not_ your fault. You can’t blame yourself.”

“This isn’t about the kidnapping anymore,” Cisco says. 

“It’s not?” Barry asks.

“Well,” Cisco says, “it kind of is, but not really.”

“Dude,” Barry says, “you have to be more specific than that.”

“You need to tell Iris about the Flash thing.” Barry looks confused.

“How is that about the kidnapping?”

“Look.” Cisco says, “I told the _Snarts_ your ID. Not telling Iris at this point just seems ridic.”

“Cisco-”

“I’m not kidding, Barry,” Cisco says, “if you don’t tell her, I will.”

“I thought you said it was my secret to tell?”

“It is, Barry,” Cisco says, “but it’s mine too.”

“How is it yours?” Barry asks, like Cisco isn’t building him tech for his Flash shenanigans. Like he doesn’t have to lie to Iris to cover up his part of Barry being the Flash. It’s almost insulting that Barry doesn’t realize it’s affecting him too.

“Iris not knowing is starting to bleed into my relationship with her, and I just- I can’t take it anymore, Barry. I can’t do it.” Barry nods. At least he doesn’t need any more explanation than that.

“Give me a month.”

“A month?”

“Yes, I’ll try to find a time that works well, and then I’ll tell her.”

“And if you don’t do it in a month?”

“Then I give you my blessing to tell her.” Cisco didn’t need Barry’s blessing, but he can’t say that he doesn’t appreciate it. It will make the whole thing easier if he has to do it himself.

Iris will know Barry’s identity within a month. Cisco will make sure of it.

 

 

 

Iris lies in bed. Cisco frets around the room. He’s looking for something to take out to the living room to work on, presumably. He’s done this the last two nights that she’s stayed over. She’s not sure that he slept a wink either of them. 

“Cisco." 

“Sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to wake you.” He rubs his neck awkwardly, embarrassed that he disturbed her.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” she says, sitting back up. Then she turns on the lamp on the bedside table. He blinks a few times as his eyes try to adjust to the light. His hair is a little matted where she’d dug her fingers into it earlier tonight. She tries not to focus too much on that.

He turns around, and his eyes light up as he sees some schematics on his chair.  
  
“There they are!” He plucks them up, and then slides them under his arm.

“Why are you working at 2 in the morning."

“I couldn’t sleep,” Cisco says, “you should really go back to bed, babe.” Iris rolls her eyes.

“Sure, like you have for the past three nights.” Cisco freezes.

“Yeah,” Iris says, “I noticed that you haven’t been sleeping.” She’s not pleased either. He seems like he’s working himself to the bone.

“I’m getting though it.”

“No, there’s something bothering you,” she says, crossing her arms.

“It’s nothing,” Cisco says. He crosses his arms right back at her.

“I don’t like it when people keep secrets from me,” Iris says. That’s her trump card, and she hopes that Cisco won’t fight it. He grimaces.

“I’ve been having nightmares,” Cisco says admits. Iris hopes that her relief that tactic worked doesn’t show on her face.

“What sort of nightmares?”

“It’s probably stupid,” Cisco says, laughing awkwardly.

“Babe,” Iris says, “you know you can tell me anything, right?”

“They’re _really_ stupid. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“If they’re freaking you out, then they're not stupid,” Iris says. Cisco shakes his head.

“No, these are, Iris." 

“Come on, you cared about my blog. Let me care about your mental health.” She pats his side of the bed invitingly.

“It’s not a couch, but it still works right? Freud was so obsessed with sex this might be better, actually.”

“Is this a therapy session now?”

“If you want it to be. I’m a woman of many talents.” Cisco sighs, but he plops down on the bed beside her. He lies on his back up against the headboard.

“They always start out in Star Labs, in the bunker,” he forces out, and she can tell that it’s hard for him to say, “I feel this sense of dread, like I know that something awful is gonna happen. Then Dr. Wells comes, and I’m not happy to see him. I’m terrified of him. He’s the villain, like an actual supervillain. He moves as fast as the Flash, maybe faster. And then he kills me.” Iris puts a hand on his, and sends him a soft look.

“Cisco-”

“I said it was stupid, alright,” he says. He rolls over to his side, and she’s left facing his back.

“Dreams always come from somewhere, Cisco,” Iris says, “there might be something going on psychologically here-”

“Don’t psychoanalyze me, you wouldn’t  like me when I’m psychoanalyzed,” he quotes absently.

“Quoting Hannibal isn’t helping your case here, babe,” Iris says. She and Cisco have curled up together on the couch and watched a lot of shows, and the show about a serial killer hiding unnoticed among the people hunting him is not making a good case for Wells being who he says he is.

Cisco sits back up and faces her. He looks deadly serious.

“Dr. Wells isn’t Hannibal Lecter,” he says, sounding legitimately angry about the comparison.

“Cisco-”

“These are just dreams, okay? Dr. Wells is just my mentor. He isn’t living some supervillain second life.”

“You know what?" he says, "Forget that I told you." It sounds so final, and Iris realizes that she’s not getting anywhere with this. Cisco’s too set in his ways about this, and it’s going to take more than nightmares to change his mind.

“Alright, just please, try to sleep. You can’t be working all through the night.”

“I _can.”_ If there’s anything that Cisco doesn’t like, it’s being told that he can’t do something.

“But should you?” Cisco bites his lip. Iris rolls over and wraps her arms around him.

“Babe, you gotta sleep. Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m fucking exhausted,” he says honestly.

“Then you need to sleep,” Iris says gently.

“If I go to sleep, the nightmares will come back.” She can hear the self-loathing in his voice. He’s so embarrassed by these nightmares. She can tell that he’s embarrassed both by their content and by the fact that they make him afraid of going to sleep. 

“Iris-”

“I got you,” she says gently, “you’re safe. No evil bosses, no dying.” She wraps her arms around him, holding him tightly. 

“My superhero,” he laughs. Iris holds him a little tighter, and he leans into her touch. Even if he jokes about it, she can tell that it’s helping. It makes her feel a little like she’s curled up with a huge teddy bear as opposed to spooning, but this isn’t about her right now. She knows how safe and warm it feels to be the little spoon, and she knows Cisco needs that right now.

Cisco doesn’t stir during the night, and he’s still sleeping when Iris wakes up that morning. She heaves a sigh of relief.

 

 

 

Cisco isn’t sure why, but having Iris spooned around him does help with the nightmares. It does not help with the day terrors, but he refuses to mention those to anyone. Nightmares, well, those are normal, even recurring ones. Seeing shit during the day when he’s fully awake? Cisco knows that’s not normal on any level. He just tries to ignore it as time marches on. 

 

Barry invites him and Iris to see a movie, just the three of them. They’ve never done anything just the three of them, but Cisco is definitely not opposed. He’s actually really excited. Just he and his two favorite people seeing a movie together? That sounds pretty perfect to him. He tries not to look too deeply into it when Barry asks them to meet at his lab, though Iris won’t stop fretting. She’s absolutely sure that something’s up.

When they get there, Barry’s standing in front of a bulletin board with little red strings connecting photos and newspaper clippings, like something out of a movie. That’s when Cisco realizes that Iris was 100% right, like she normally is. Something is definitely up. 

“We aren’t going to that movie, are we?” Cisco asks.

“No,” Barry says, "we aren't." 

“What’s going on?” Iris asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well,” Barry says, “I have some explaining to do.” He smiles sardonically.

“Oh,” Cisco says, his eyes widening. Barry nods.

“I’ve been keeping something from you, Iris,” Barry says. He takes a deep breath, and then he runs into his Flash costume.

“You’re the Flash,” she says, voice an awed whisper. Barry just nods. Cisco, apparently, does not look properly shocked.

“You knew about this?” Iris asks, betrayal thick in her voice, “and you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m so sorry, but it wasn’t my secret to tell.”

“But it was something I _needed_ to know! I feel like an idiot.” Barry looks contrite. Cisco feels contrite. 

"I'm sorry," Cisco says. This doesn't make Iris any less angry. 

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t walk out of here right now,” Iris says.

“I have more to tell you,” Barry says gravely, “Something neither of you know.” Barry turns over his board, and shows them the articles, the pictures. As soon as Cicso gets a closer look at them, he realizes that it’s a board about Dr. Wells.

“Dr. Wells killed my mother.” Cisco lets out a nervous chuckle.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Barry says.

“Uh, yeah Barr,” Cisco says, “especially after we proved he wasn’t at the crime scene.”

“I believe you,” Iris says. 

"You do?" 

“Cisco, this aligns with all of my evidence that you _refuse_ to look at." 

“Guys,” Barry says, “this isn’t just speculation. I know this for sure.”

“How?” Iris demands.

“Look,” Barry says, “I didn’t want to you this, either of you-”

“What are you saying, that Dr. Wells just confessed all of this to you?” Cisco asks skeptically.

“No,” Barry says softly, “He confessed it to you.”

“What?” Cisco asks, and his face crinkles up in confusion.

“A few weeks ago, I went back in time. There was this tsunami, and literally everything was going to shit.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

“In that timeline, you’d discovered something incriminating on Dr. Wells. You called Iris. I was with her, and I heard part of it over the phone. He confessed to my mother’s murder. Then he- well- he.” Barry chokes up a little then, unable to say the words that Cisco knows he’s thinking: then he killed you.

“Your dreams,” Iris says. Cisco stiffens.

“Cisco, this explains your dreams.”

“What?” Barry asks. Now it’s his turn to be in the dark, their turn to tell _him_ about something they’ve kept from him.

“I dreamed that,” Cisco says, “I think- I think I might _remember_ that timeline.”

“But it never happened,” Barry says, “Cisco you can’t remember that.”

“But I do,” he says, “I don’t know how, but I do.”

“When was it?” Iris asks.

“It was the day that murder at the morgue happened,” Cisco says.

“How do you know that?”

“You weren’t just that happy to see me,” Cisco says, laughing that self-deprecating laugh.

“You’re important to me,” Barry says. Cisco laughs again.

“Not _that_ important,” he says. Barry looks like he’s about to say something, but he doesn’t.

“Barry, can you take us to my house? I need to get my evidence,” Iris says, “we can really build a case against this guy.” Barry nods.

“What if we didn’t need that,” Cisco suggests.

“What?” Iris asks, “why wouldn’t we need the evidence?”

“What if we were to hear him confess, and whatever else he gave away that day.”

“Cisco,” Iris says gently, “what do you mean?”

“I mean, what if we tried to access my dreams. Then we’d know exactly what happened that night, and we’d be one step ahead of him.”

“That sounds like an awful idea,” Iris says.

“No, Caitlin and I could do it,” Cisco says, “I know we could.”

“I meant it sounds dangerous,” she says. Cisco shrugs. 

"So? If doing this could help us beat Reverse Flash, shouldn't we try it?" Neither Iris nor Barry have anything to say to that. 

 

 

 

 They get everything ready for Cisco to take a trip into his dreams, and Iris is no more on board with the plan than she was when Cisco suggested it. 

“You need to talk him out of this,” Iris tells Barry. 

“Yeah, sure,” Barry says, “like he talked you out of writing about the Flash?”

“Wait,” Iris says, “you asked him to talk me out of that?”

“Yeah, I did,” Barry says, “he didn’t listen though.” Iris shakes her head. He definitely didn’t. He gave her the push she needed to take her blog more seriously. His support helped her land her job at the CCPN.

“Caitlin will make sure he’s alright,” Barry says, “she’s his best friend.”

“But I’m his girlfriend,” Iris says. She knows that it’s shitty of her, to imply that she cares more about Cisco than Caitlin does. She's gonna do it anyways, though.

“And I’m the Flash,” Barry says, “none of us get any input in this decision, apparently.” She sighs.

“Alright,” Iris says, “let’s go do this.” She gestures towards the entrance to the room where they’re going to hook Cisco up.

“You’re still gonna try to talk him out of it, aren’t you?” 

“Aren’t you?” Iris asks. Barry laughs, and he smiles his puppy dog smile as he shrugs. Yeah, Iris knows that she’ll have a little support at least.

 

Caitlin hooks Cisco up to the machine, and Iris makes a last ditch attempt to save Cisco from himself.

“I don’t approve of this,” Iris says.

“Yeah, we know,” Cisco says, “you told us six times.” He sounds really irritated, but Iris doesn’t really care. Cisco’s already having nightmares about this, to the point where he can barely sleep. What’s going to happen once he relives all of it?

“I don’t think that it’s good for you,” Iris says. Cisco sighs.

“Iris, babe, I have _always_ believed in you. Please believe in me.” This time, Iris sighs.

“I’m sorry,” she says, smiling softly at him, “I sound like my dad, don’t I?”

“Kind of,” Barry says, “but that’s not a bad thing. I’m gonna sound like Joe for a second too.” Cisco rolls his eyes.

“Not you too. Can’t I just have one person who just lets me do this?”

“I’m not standing in your way,” Caitlin says, grinning at him.

“See,” Cisco says, gesturing to her, “that’s why _Caitlin’s_ my best friend.” Barry bristles a little at that, like Cisco admitting outright that Caitlin is The Best Friend actually hurts. It probably does. Iris knows how close the two have gotten.

“You don’t have to do this,” Barry says, “we can figure this out without doing this.”

“Hey,” Cisco says, “you’ve saved me so many times, let me save you this time.” Barry puts his hand on Cisco's shoulder, and he doesn’t let go. Iris takes his hand and holds it.

“Alright,” Barry says, “I’ve done all I can.” Caitlin walks over to the mechanism, and looks ready to start it.

“Are you ready, Cisco?”

“Yeah,” he says, “beam me up Scotty.” Iris laughs, and Barry laughs, and then the two share a meaningful “God, I love this dork” sort of look. If only this were all Star Trek references and handholding, and not life and death.

 

 

 

Cisco tries to be strong about this. He tries to go to work and pretend that nothing has changed. It’s just that he sees Wells (Thawne, his brain reminds him, his real name is Thawne) sticking his hand through his chest in his dreams. He hears him calling him son. He knows that this man killed him, and he has to go to work with him and smile like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

It would be too much, way too much, if they weren’t at least making progress. They are, however, making some progress. They find a secret room inside Star Labs, and he and Barry decide to investigate. Cisco sets up a contingency first.  
  
He knows that it might not be a great contingency, seeing as it was the one had the night that he died, but it’s better than nothing. He asks Caitlin to distract Wells while he and Barry check out the super secret future room. She reluctantly agrees.

 

 

 

Barry and Cisco find the Reverse Flash costume, an AI with a woman’s voice, and an article from 2024.

An article written by “Iris West-Allen,” Cisco says hollowly. Barry is excited for a moment, until he realizes that means that Iris and Cisco break up. And he remembers that if anything were to happen between him and Iris, he would lose Cisco forever. He’s not so excited by the prospect anymore.

“Dude, that doesn’t mean anything,” Barry assures him.

“You’re in love with her,” Cisco says. Barry stiffens.

“How did you figure it out?”

“Dude, I’m not _blind,”_ Cisco says, “anyone with eyes can see that you’re in love with her.”

“She’s in love with you,” Barry says. Iris and Cisco are in love, and he’s the odd man out. That’s how it’s been all these months, and he can’t imagine it changing. They’re just so perfect for each other. Barry’s had to watch this unfold, so they don’t get to break up. 

Sure, the idea of being married to Iris is amazing. It’s been his dream since he was a kid, but he doesn’t know if he likes the idea anymore. He doesn’t want to imagine a future without Cisco in it.

“But she’s in love with you too,” Cisco says. Barry freezes.

“What?”

“Have you seen the way she looks at you?”

“Really?” Barry asks. He doesn’t want to rub it in, but this is new information to him. Cisco stiffens, and Barry realizes that he’s not going to get any elaboration past that point.

“Look,” Cisco says, “can we just not talk about this?” Barry wants to reassure him that he has a place in this story, that what that newspaper says doesn’t change anything, but he understands that Cisco doesn’t want to hear it. Instead they try to gain the most information that they can from the room and get out with their lives.

Then Cisco leaves, and he doesn’t say a word to Barry as he walks out the door.

 

 

 

Cisco texts Iris, and asks to meet at Jitters for lunch. It’s weird. They never do lunch dates. The only other one that they’ve ever done was when Iris cornered him about Wells. Iris isn’t about to refuse, though, and meets Cisco at Jitters.

They get food, and the drink coffee, and everything seems pretty normal until Iris asks him how the investigation went.

“We, uh,” Cisco says, “we sure found something.”

“What was it?”

“We found the Reverse Flash costume, for one." 

“That’s big,” Iris says, and it is. She doesn’t know if it’s big in a good way or a bad way, but it changes things.

“And we found a newspaper article from the future." His voice cracks a little on that, and Iris sends him a concerned look.

“The headline says Flash Missing Vanishes in Crisis."  Somehow, the way that he says it makes it sound like that’s _not_ what he’s upset about.

“What is it?" 

“It was written by you, in the future." And wow, that’s so crazy. Iris doesn’t want to think about writing an article about Barry going missing. She can only think about crying as she types, trying to force out an objective article about one of the most important people in her life going missing. She doesn’t know if she could do it.

“The byline said Iris West-Allen.” The light bulb clicks on in Iris’s head.

“You mean-”

“Yeah,” Cisco says, sounding bitter, “I’m supposed to die, and you’re supposed to end up with him.”

“Cisco, that's not what it means," Iris says. She doesn't know what it does mean, but that doesn't make any sense. She loves him, and that's not going to change. 

“No,” Cisco says, “this is your fairy tale. You and Barry. You’re gonna be Iris West-Allen, and he’s gonna be Barry West-Allen. There’s no room for a Ramon in there.”

“I _love_ you Cisco." 

“I’m sorry I just- I can’t do this,” he says, “I can’t be your placeholder boyfriend until you decide you do wanna be with Barry. I can’t.”

“That’s not it,” Iris says. She doesn’t know how to explain that yes, she loves Barry, but she loves Cisco too. She realizes that’s probably not what he’d want to hear anyway. No one wants to hear that their girlfriend loves them, but she loves another guy too. Especially not when he just found out said girlfriend is supposed to marry the other guy in the future.

Cisco doesn’t grace that with a response, and he gets up from the table.

“Cisco!” He doesn’t respond, and soon he’s out the door. Iris is left gaping, clutching her coffee in shock. Cisco’s really ended their relationship over a byline.

 

 

 

Iris shows up at Barry’s apartment fifteen minutes later. He’s not there when she gets there, but she has a key. She lets herself in and plops down on his couch. She waits an hour for him.

“Iris?” he says, looking shocked that she’s here. She’s still holding back tears. 

“Cisco broke up with me." Barry looks concerned, almost shocked.

“He what?”

“He broke up with me."  Barry plops down next to her, and rubs his temple with his hand.

“Was this over the byline thing?”  
  
“Yeah, apparently we’re gonna get married and have a _fairy tale_ ending.”

“Yeah,” Barry says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “don’t know where that came from.” His voice is hoarse and nervous, a little embarrassed even. Iris sighs. This is gonna be more difficult than she’d hoped.

“It came up because I love you, and I think that you love me,” she says evenly.

“Really?” He lights up like a Christmas tree.

“Yes Barry, I love you.” It feels so weird, admitting that out loud. She loves Barry. She’s always loved Barry on some level, but she’d never gotten around to admitting it, even to herself. 

“But I love him too.” And Iris knows this as well as she knows that she loves Barry. Cisco has made her so happy, ever since she met him. Imagining a life without him hurts. She needs Barry in her life, but she needs Cisco too. She can’t be West-Allen if she has to get rid of Ramon.

“Funny,” Barry says, “I was about to say the same thing.”

“Really?” Iris asks. Now it’s her turn to sound incredulous.

“Yeah,” Barry says, “I’ve been in love with him for months.”

“When did you realize?” Iris asks.

“After he died,” Barry says, “it just, it felt like the world had ended you know? It felt like the world wasn’t worth living in without him.” Iris is so glad that _she_ doesn’t remember that timeline at all. She doesn’t think that she could handle remembering Cisco’s last moments. Iris takes his hand.

“Do you think we could make something like this work, with the three of us?” Iris asks. She’s heard about polyamorous relationships, but she never really expected to have one. She doesn’t even know if Cisco would be open to one. They never got around to talking about that. Maybe if they had, he wouldn’t have stormed out the moment that he read West-Allen.

“I hope so,” Barry says.

 

 

Iris rings Cisco’s doorbell. Barry is honestly surprised that he even answers, but he’s suitably bitter about it.

“You’re here. Both of you,” Cisco says skeptically.

“Yes,” Barry says while Iris says, “both of us.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. and Mrs. West-Allen?” he says with a suitable amount of bile for someone in his situation.

“You can stop calling us that, for one,” Iris says, rolling her eyes.

“That’s what you’re going to be, might as well use the name.”

“Stop being such a drama queen,” Iris says. Barry looks nervously to her. Calling Cisco a drama queen was not in the game plan.

“ _I’m_ being a drama queen,” Cisco demands, “you’re the one that dated me, knowing you were in love with him.” Then he points accusingly at Barry, who feels a little guilty, even though he knows this situation isn’t his fault. At least, not entirely.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t love you too,” she shouts. Cisco looks taken aback. Barry doesn’t know whether or not this is a good time to chime in with “hello yes, I am also in love with you. A threesome would be great". He decides that he should wait for that.

“You’re in love with both of us?” Cisco says skeptically.

“Yes,” Iris says.

“Well it doesn't matter.”

“I can date both of you, you know.” Cisco flat out laughs at that, and Barry realizes that he might not actually accept this proposition. Polyamory may be way out of his comfort zone. He and Iris may go home Ciscoless and sad, hands and hearts empty.

“I don’t think that Barry’s cool with you dating both of us.”  
  
“Actually, I am.” Cisco scrunches up his face in confusion.

“You _are_ ?”

“Yeah, I am,” Barry says, more easily than he’s ever said anything before, “I’m in love with both of you.”

“Wait- you love me?” Cisco says, turning to Barry. He’s looking to him in disbelief. Barry doesn’t know if that’s a good sign or not. He spent a lifetime holding in his feelings for Iris, though, and that worked out alright once she found out. Barry can only hope that this will be the case too.

“Yeah,” Barry says, “I do.”

“We both do,” Iris says, because she’s a dirty one-upper who always one-ups him.

“For real?” Cisco asks, “you aren’t punking me?”

“Would I do this if we were punking you?” Barry asks. He cups Cisco’s cheek gently, and Cisco looks up at him like he’s in a trance. Then Barry kisses him softly on the lips. It feels a bit like magic, like everything in the universe is coming into focus after being blurry. Cisco takes one of his hands, and one of Iris’s.

“Come inside,” he says, and then he slams the door behind him, and engulfs them both in a hug.

“I love you,” Cisco says, “god, I love both of you.” Iris smiles at him and it's so soft and full of love.   
  
“I didn’t think I could have either of you,” Cisco admits. Barry takes one of his hands as he sees Iris gently rubbing his back.

“Yeah, babe,” she says, “we know. We know.”

“But we’re here now,” Barry says, “and we’re not going anywhere.”

“Well,” Cisco says, breathless and excited and high on whatever it is they’re making, “can you _go_ a little closer to the bed?” Iris laughs, and Barry scoops them both into his arms. They’re on the bed in a flash.

 

 

 

They wake up later in a tangled mess of bodies. Barry feels long hair in his hand, but honestly that could be either of them. Cisco jerks awake.

“Holy shit,” Cisco says, “that really happened.”

“Yeah,” Iris says, “it did.”  
  
“And you don’t regret it, right?”  
  
“Cisco,” Barry says, “I’ve been dreaming about that for months.” Then he realizes his exact implications, and he feels himself blush scarlet. Iris might have made a comment about that, but Cisco beats her to it.

“And you still love me too?” Cisco asks, his voice cracking.

“Yeah, Cisco,” Iris says, smiling at him softly, “never stopped.”

“Of course,” Barry says, “god, Cisco. I’ve been in love with you for months.” Cisco, who just slept with both of them after intense declarations of love, still somehow manages to look shocked.

“Holy shit,” Cisco says, “I think I just won some sort of lottery. Is there a lottery where they give out like, potions that make the hottest, most perfect possible people fall in love with you? Because I feel like that’s like, the only explanation for this.”

“Or it could just be that you’re great?” Barry suggests. Iris laughs.

“I’ve kissed both of you,” she says, “you are _both_ great.” Then she smiles softly at them.

“My boys,” she says, putting an arm around each of them. Barry smiles as wide as he can. He’s heard Iris call him hers before, but it had always been her best friend, never this. It makes him feel so warm inside, so loved. He’s never felt more like he belonged than right in this bed with his two favorite people.

“I can’t believe that we’re solving our relationship problems while Reverse Flash is on the loose,” Cisco says.

“Well,” Barry says, “I kinda have the feeling that there _ever_ isn’t gonna be a good time. Our lives are starting to feel like a TV show.”

“Oh no,” Cisco says, “if our lives were a TV show, they’d never let our polyamorous asses on screen.”

“Honestly, Cisco, you and I wouldn’t even be on the show,” Iris says, “they’d get Barry some hot blonde love interest instead of either of us.”  

“Okay, seriously not liking the direction this is going,” Cisco says, taking Barry’s hand from across the bed.

“Me neither,” Barry says, “any version of my life without you two in it isn’t worth watching.”

“You sap,” Iris says, poking him in the chest.

“Let him talk,” Cisco says, “I wanna hear this romantic shit.”

“I’m a little offended that you just called my romance shit,” Barry says.

“You know what I mean, babe,” Cisco says. Barry tries not to blush at the fact that Cisco called him babe, or how much he liked it. He can still barely believe that this is his life. He’s in bed with Iris and Cisco, and he loves them and they love him and everything’s right with his love life, even if nothing is right with the rest of it.

 

The Reverse Flash is still on the loose, but Barry is gaining confidence that they’ll be able to find him and defeat him.

 

He was struck by lightning, and got superspeed, a new best friend, and the world’s greatest girlfriend and boyfriend. Barry Allen’s starting to believe that anything might really be possible. At least, anything is possible for him when he has and Cisco and Iris by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave me reviews. i normally write stuff that 5k or under and this fic is almost 15k. it's like 3-5 fics in one for me


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